SSgt. Andrew Dunn of Air Force Reserve Command’s 514th Air Mobility Wing at JB McGuire, N.J., and A1C Brian Alfano of the New York Air National Guard’s 106th Rescue Squadron in Westhampton are the first two reserve component airmen to graduate a new survival, evasion, resistance, and escape course designed to allow Guardsmen and Reservists to become SERE instructors. The course, dubbed S-V95, took place at Fairchild AFB, Wash. It is designed to qualify these airmen on an abbreviated schedule, without serious disruption to their civilian jobs and family life. “We did six field training trips in three months; active duty does them in six months,” said Dunn. Alfano and Dunn will have the opportunity to travel to other installations to teach SERE techniques to fellow airmen. They will eventually be certified to deploy after additional training. (Fairchild report by SrA. Natacha E. Stannard)
The new defense reconciliation bill includes $7.2 billion for Air Force and Navy aviation accounts, almost half of which will buy more F-15EXs. While electronic warfare, drones, connectivity and airlift all get attention, the F-35 was conspicuously absent from the package, with no explanation given.